When God reveals only a portion of your calling
I remember the moment so clearly. I was in Bible Study, my back was toward the screen (because per usual, I arrived late and the good seats at the round-table were taken). As I swiveled back and forth between looking at the screen and taking notes in my workbook, I felt the word Titus jump out at me from the pages of my Bible.
We had just recently moved to Denver. We didn't yet know of Abreham or Elsabet, we did not know they would be joining our family.
I felt like God was saying to me, "Titus is your future. Titus will come."
Since we'd already brought home two kids from Ethiopia, I took this to mean we would be adopting a sweet little boy named Titus.
I remember as Beth Moore's video ended and our group went into a time of prayer requests, I told the group about this Titus revelation. We were all excited about the idea that God would be bringing more children into our family and we lifted this request of protection and discernment before the Throne in prayer.
A year or two later, as we were in the process of adopting Abreham, I remember wondering why his name wasn't Titus. I remember wondering if our new son would want to change his name like Ezekiel did (his Ethiopian name is Temesgen) and if he'd randomly choose Titus as his new "American name."
But no.
And when the Lord revealed that Elsabet was ours, my heart asked Him, "But where is Titus?"
I heard no answer in response.
Until today.
I realized Titus isn't a child...it's a calling.
I was posting and commenting in the Bible Nerd Facebook page. Several ladies were asking to join, so as I clicked "yes", I also clicked on their profile pages to learn more about each of these new women to our community. One stated they were part of a Titus 2 Ministry at their church.
What's a Titus 2 ministry?? I thought.
Opening my Bible to that book in the New Testament, I realized at some point I had heavily underlined sections of the chapter and gasped.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized the Lord had told me that day not that I would have a child named Titus...but He was calling me to teach.
After reading the passage several times, I headed to Google and typed in "What is a Titus 2 Woman?"
Here is what I learned:
The whole goal of a Titus 2 woman is to train younger women in Biblical, simple-to-measure, Spirit-empowered, love-based living.
Paul did not call for Titus as the pastor to train all the women in these qualities God wanted them to cultivate; rather he called upon the godly older women of Christ's church. He singles out the women of faith, those who had already learned to love their husbands, learned to love their children, and learned to be reverent, godly, modest and wise—and charged them with seeking out and meeting with every younger woman in the church.
Woah.
You can read more about a Titus 2 Woman here, but I have chills reading the above description, having already felt like the Lord was leading me to something.
Do you or have you felt like God was placing you into something? Preparing you? But you weren't sure what for?
David (the shepherd boy who defeated Goliath and later became king of Israel) went through the same thing. 1 Samuel 16 tells the story of when he was anointed by the prophet Samuel.
The Lord set Him apart, chose him, and appointed him to be king one day...but guess what? When his head was anointed with oil, he had no idea what he was being set apart for. He wasn't given a timeframe or a schedule of events. He wasn't given an end game or plan.
All David knew is the Lord was writing his story to include something other than simply being a shepherd.
And He has something for you, too.
It would be nearly a decade from the day David was anointed, until he was crowned king.
In the in-between time, his life looked abundantly different than someone who would one day rule the nation. Even though he had no idea (yet) that this was where God was bringing him, David went from a shepherd to a helper of the king.
David was known to be a great musician and was asked to come play the harp for King Saul in order to help him relax and relieve his troubled spirit. Through this, the Lord allowed David to see what life was like in the home of the king (whose place he would eventually take). David could see the interaction between family members and staff. He could see the reality of the king's day-to-day.
When we do good work and gain trust from those around us, we often gain more access or responsibility and this was the same for David. Saul respected and had confidence in young David and because of this, he was also given the title of Armor Bearer.
As you can imagine, an Armor Bearer does just that...handles the armor. Because of his new role, David was required to be a fly on the wall when Saul was in battle, awaiting the moment the king needed help putting on his protective covering.
I'm sure there were times when David thought, "Why am I here, Father?? This is not where I thought You'd take me. What's the purpose in this??"
But there WAS purpose in it...because can you think of a better opportunity for David to learn? Not only did the Lord allow David to see into a king's life at home, he also got to listen in as strategy was discussed with the king's generals. He saw how the king acted and reacted when things went poorly in battle, or when they went well. He was basically in king-school, though he had no idea.
What are you in "school" for?
What is God training you for that seems completely unrelated to what you're currently doing...when in reality, it's the perfect precursor??
Even when King Saul turned on David (due mostly to jealousy) and set out to kill him, the situation was used by God in preparation for him becoming king. I'm in no way saying that God was pulling strings to make Saul hunt down David...what I am saying though is even our really REALLY hard times can end up being used for good.
There can be purpose in our pain.
1 Samuel 20-31 shares David's life of fleeing and hiding from the king. Within the pages of these chapters, we see how a young man who is scared spitless and who will do whatever needed to survive...becomes a man of great wisdom and discernment as he learns to talk first with God before acting.
He needed this time of hardship to become the man of character God needed him to be to lead a nation.
He wasn't perfect, of course. As we read about his reign in 2 Samuel, we know he made mistakes over and over. But each time he did, he fell on his face before the Lord in remorse. His relationship with God was so strong that our Heavenly Father even referred to him as "a man after God's own heart" (read more about that here).
Perhaps you're not where you want to be.
Maybe you feel the Lord whispering the words, "more" and "bigger" but you don't know what that means or looks like.
We all hate the waiting period, so what do we do when we're in it??
We all just want to be there...we want the fulfillment of a calling, yet hate the preparation period it takes to get there. But we can't just sit on our hands and literally just wait. We need to actively wait...and the best way to do that is to grow in our relationship with Him.
Read the Bible. Pray throughout the day. Serve. Grow. Learn.
Like David, seek His face as you make decisions and in how you act in situations.
Maybe He will open your eyes to the fact that He wants you to be a woman in Titus 2 like He is showing me. Perhaps it's something completely different.
But whatever it is, it's going to be exciting. Especially as we know we're doing it to magnify His name and the kingdom of heaven.
Are you in a time of wait?
If so, how are you actively waiting?
Are you in a time of fulfillment?
If so, can you see how even little things helped prepare for this time of completion?
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”